This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of everbearing (weakly day-neutral) strawberry plant designated Burlington. It originated as a seedling from a cross made in 1978 between the non-everbearing cultivar Tufts, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,561, and an everbearing strawberry known only as E.B. 18, originated by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture at Beltsville, Md. from the cross MdUS 3082xCal.65.65.-601 (day-neutral), neither of the latter of which has been patented.
Burlington bore its first fruit in 1979 at Sakuma Bros. Farm, Inc., in Burlington, Wash. It was selected and assigned selection number SS 534. It has been tested and evaluated under this number by the originators on farms owned and operated by the present assignee, in comparison with Quinault, which is the principal everbearing cultivar now grown in the Pacific Northwest. Characteristics have been noted that distinguish Burlington from the established everbearers known as Aptos, Brighton, Ft. Laramie, Hecker, Osark Beauty and Quinault and the recently introduced Fern, Selva, Tillicum, Tribute and Tristar; of all of the aforenoted, however, it most nearly resembles Selva. Similarities and differences between Burlington and Selva are noted below.
Plants of Burlington have been propagated asexually by separation of runner plants from the original seedling plant and by subsequent propagation of the runners. Typical runner plants were virus-indexed by standard methods and those that indexed "virus-free" were heat-treated to inactivate possible remaining heat-labile viruses. The most vigorous plant resulting from those procedures was then increased by meristem culture, and was yet further increased by screenhouse culture as required for purposes of certification by the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture.